The ending is beginning...

I never could do linear...
I'm pondering the conclusion of my Experimental Fiction book.  I'm arguing a New Era is dawning for fiction.  There are lots of chapters to this section, but the chapter that has me thinking today is: Why is it necessary for writers to experiment?  I've written lots of pieces for all the different sections: Modernism, The Beats, Postmodernism and a New Era Is Dawning, but the chapter that is preoccupying me is: Why is it necessary for writers to experiment?  I guess the article I read over the week-end, set me thinking. (Again). 
It wasn't an article about fiction; it was: How British Theatre Once Inventive & Daring, Lost Sight Of The Avant Garde.  Maybe this can be said of all works of art?  I think it's true of the publishing industry.  There is very little out-there that challenges readers to shift out of their comfort zone.  Although, admittedly there are some writers...very few...I could go on.  I won't.  I'll be here all day.  And I have a deadline to reach???!!!!(Hypocrite?!)
 
In November, 2011, I had a paper accepted for: 1st Global Conference: Writing: Paradigms, Power, Poetics & Praxes, in Prague.  In this paper, amongst other things, I was discussing where my writing comes from...
I wrote that: 'For many years, I have written some mainstream work for commercial ventures, which has been constrained by deadlines, publishing fads and trends.  I have also engaged with 'experimental' writing, which has been to contemplate specific lines of intellectual enquiry, and to act as a vehicle for spiritual development and for the joy of exploring, and developing, my creative writing practice.  With no desire to please, impress, entertain or attract commercial interest, I feel that in this 'experimental' fiction, I have been able to write more freely and honestly, more directly and intensely: I was free to experiment.' 
The article, How British Theatre... says that, 'David Hare, Mark Ravenhill and Simon Stephens argued that comfortable, safe theatre was in danger of pushing more challenging new work off the stage...According to Ravenhill, 'theatre is being starved of fresh writing by a new emphasis on commercial success...the grant receiving sector now pays too much attention to pleasing the crowd...the capital has lost its risk-taking culture.' A political hot potato!
So, my question, is: should artists create to please, and for commercial success?  Oooh, a difficult one.  And something that each artist/writer has to decide for themselves.  This is a MASSIVE debate.  And I guess, it depends very much on whose money an artist/writer is using?
Sometime ago, I made a decision, that I didn't want to compromise my 'experimental' work by writing specifically for a market, a publisher, who quite rightly, wants to make a profit.  I want to 'experiment,' and I accept that my work may only resonate with a small community of like-minded readers and writers.  If I am to express, and be true to 'me,' that's how it has to 'be,' for 'me.'
If artists don't experiment, what happens?  We are not given 'uncomfortable perhaps even painful feelings,' according to Alistair Spalding, Sadler's Wells.  I'm not so sure about this, but what I am sure is, if Nijinsky hadn't created The Rite Of Spring, if John Cage hadn't composed 4'33, if Kerouac hadn't written On The Road, if, if, if...

If writers don't experiment, writing does not evolve; it becomes stale, dull, b-o-r-i-n-g yawnnnnnn

I'm going to quote McCarthy once more, I can't help it, he speaks for me too, when he says:  'the avant-garde can't be ignored because to ignore it-as most humanist British novels do-is the equivalent of ignoring Darwin.' Here!  Here!
And so endeth the lesson...
I better get writing.  I'm in the mood now.  I'm fired up.  Perhaps just one cup of coffee first...
And check this out- with a big thank you to Ciaran ( I really enjoyed this)
http://someguyswithapen.tumblr.com

Start The Week

Dean emails me on his essay:  How Bukowski should have listened to The Doors-fantastic!  What an imaginative topic!  Also, Charles, was the book you suggested Snow Child?  Sounds a good read.  Elements of fairy tale-nice-the author?
I wonder if anyone heard Jon McGregor speaking about his collection of short stories on Radio 4 yesterday.
An insightful programme on the short story-I haven't read much of Alice Munro(she was spoken about a lot in the programme) but I think I will over the summer.
I saw Drive on Saturday-sparse, taut, silent, still-I enjoyed it.  Wonder if Mark Kermode has written anything about it...And I still haven't seen: We Need To Talk About Kevin-I MUST!
Anyway, got to get cracking-a new chapter today: Sexuality, Drugs, Criminality, Fiction & The Beats-it's a bit early in the morning for such a topic-but heigh ho..here I go...

The Beats

I wrote all day yesterday.  I was writing about how the Beats have had an impact on music (a chapter in my book on experimental fiction)  I was inspired by context 2 class on Tuesday where we discussed lyrics/text.
So, Beats were influenced by bebop jazz.  They applied the principles of bebop playing to prose and poetry 'bob prosody.'  This led me to write about the impact Beats had on more contemporary musicians, in particular, Tom Waits, who has acknowledged the influence Jack Kerouac had on his performance style-a drifter, nomadic, the content of his work: hookers, diners and life after night fall.  Waits says, On The Road 'spoke to him' as 'he made the connection between words that felt like music.'  He wrote Jack and Neal and recorded Primus; a song written by Jack after finishing his novel.  In 1987 Waits was involved with Burroughs and Nick Cave releasing 'Smack My Crack.'  And in 1988 theatre director, Robert Wilson, approached Burroughs to write: The Black Rider: The Casting Of Magic Bullets, based on a German folktale; Waits wrote and performed the music and lyrics.  The play toured the States and Europe. If you don't know of Waits, Wicki him-pure poetry!
The Beats also influenced Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Laurie Anderson, of course the Beatles; they spelled their name with an 'a' as a Beat reference. Lennon was a big Beat fan, as was Jim Morrison, Patti Smith, Kurt Cobain, Mick Jagger, David Bowie..the beat goes on...
Jamie got me thinking, when he spoke of the blog he'd been reading.  Yep, images, links...mm...something for the future...but I guess, for now, I'd better get writing, and stop my displacement activity (writing this blog/diary) but it's fun.  But so is today's chapter: Spirituality & The Beats.  Better find my Bhagavad Gita.
Once again, thanks for your emails.  Time to write!
P.S. Master Chef was good last night

'From art to literature via fashion and music, 2012 will see the 90s repurposed with a new wave of nostalgia...'

'With the return of 'Madchester' stalwarts the Stone Roses, and another sequel to American Pie, it seems the 90s are making a return,' so the Observer says.  Nostalgia indeed..Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets...

In literature, though, Skagboys, the prequel to Trainspotting, is out in April!  I wonder if another film will be made?  Speaking of literature, I am currently reading, This Isn't The Sort Of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You by Jon McGregor, it's a book of short stories.  And they are fab! :-)  Apparently, Jon says it was Jarvis Cocker's lyrics that 'made me want to tell stories.'  I don't really know much about Jarvis Cocker or his music (although I believe he lives in Paris, ca alors, say no more!) but with lyrics Jon quotes like, 'lemonade light filtering through the trees,' and 'puddles of rain that reflected your face in my eyes,' and the fact that, 'as the best art does, it changed the way I (Jon) watched the world and the vocabulary with which I thought about it;' I guess I will check Cocker's music out.  And I'll check out Kate Bush concept-album Snow out too. (Thanks Dan)  I saw the one, and so I'm told, the only, tour Kate Bush performed and it was spectacular!  A YouTube find by David, Ortopilot is worth a view too; I hear he performs some Lennie Cohen's covers, likewise John Trailerpark Jackson. Cohen's latest album is not to be missed-he is an amazing poet!

Right, I think that's all for now folks, time to get writing again.  Thanks for the emails I'm getting with your hot tips.  Please, post them for others to share too.  Bye for now...

Hello

I'm supposed to be writing about the Fictiveness Of Fiction today.  I will.  In a while.  After I've lit the wood stove, listened to the birds... Aw no, that's becoming boring now.

Kirsty Almeida isn't boring.  She's inspiring.  Living and working in Manchester, this jazz-trained singer, represents a new wave of artists who have complete control over their artistic practice and creative decisions.  (A woman after my own heart)  As well as being a singer/performer/artist/designer/writer she creates magical experiences for her followers, interacting with them on Facebook.  Recently, she invited folk to dress up in Victorian costumes, meet with her and her band, the Troubadours, in a bar in Manchester, then the crowd moved to a ballroom, where they were treated to an 'extraordinary gig.'  Her costumes are awesome, her music vibrant, her performance stunning.  She is the queen of cabaret and voodoo pop!  Wiki her!

I didn't watch TV last night.  (Master Chef wasn't on)  I read: The Man Who Rained by Ali Shaw.  I liked The Girl With Glass Feet, but this is something else.  It's enchanting, sumptuous, such glorious descriptions and ideas.

Speaking of ideas, Proust Was A Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer is a fascinating read.  The book is about artists who anticipated the discoveries of neuroscience!  Writers and painters and composers who discovered 'truths' about the human mind that science is only now discovering!!!!  It's compelling.  It made me think of mindfulness and how that can create new pathways in the brain.  Memories, Mindfulness, Neuroscience & The Stories We Tell Ourselves...oooh I feel a paper coming on.  (David Lynch is a mindfulness fan-it's certainly rewired his brain in weird and wonderful ways.  (If you're interested check him out on Youtube.)
I have radio 4 on atm.  Nothing is catching my ear.  It did yesterday.  Soul Music, the programme was called.  It was about music that touches people.  This week it was Gerry Rafferty's Baker Street.  I know the song, but I'll listen to it differently now that I know it was written in response to Colin Wilson's The Outsider.  Rafferty's daughter said it was about looking for 'the home' within, a place of meaning and connection.  I liked that idea.  I liked it so much, I stopped my car.  Went in the bank.  And wrote it down on one of their paying-in-slips.  (I'd forgotten my notebook and pencil-arghhh my memory!!!)

A couple more hot tips:
www.gregegan.net
www.williamgibsonbooks.com
Aw, go on, and this one!!!
www.jeanettewinterson.com

Right, I'm going to stop writing this blog/diary now.  I must press on with my book.  Think I'll have a wander in the garden first to check out my snowdrops.  Then I will get writing.  I have time to make up.  A deadline to reach.  Then I'll have a treat.  Master Chef is on TV tonight.